Kid Cudi Defends Kanye West After Ending Feud: Kanye ‘Apologized and It Was Sincere’ After Antisemitic Outbursts

After feuding for the past few years, Kanye West and Kid Cudi have made up and reunited during West’s Chicago concert on Friday night. West performed the past two nights in his hometown of Chicago to promote his latest album, “Bully,” and welcomed several surprise guests to the stage. Cudi joined his longtime collaborator for the first time in seven years to perform “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1,” “Ghost Town” and “Pursuit of Happiness” to close out the show together. It was quite a reversal for the two rappers, who publicly fell out in 2022 after West removed Cudi’s contributions from his album “Donda 2.” West had been upset over Cudi’s friendship with Pete Davidson, who was dating West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian at the time. Popular on Variety Cudi didn’t hold back his frustration with West, saying in an Esquire interview, “With all due respect, I’m not Drake, who’s about to take a picture with him next week and be friends again, and their beef is squashed. That’s not me. What I say, I mean. I will be done with you. It’s gonna take a motherfucking miracle for me and that man to be friends again. I don’t see it happening.” The Chicago concert marked the first reunion for West and Cudi since they released their joint album “Kids See Ghosts” in 2018 and performed at Coachella together the following year. West and Cudi’s falling out also came as West’s career plummeted as he went on several antisemitic rants, praised Adolph Hitler and denied the Holocaust. Earlier this year, West took an ad out in the Wall Street Journal to apologize for his antisemitic outbursts and claimed they were caused by manic episodes. On Saturday morning after the concert, Cudi defended performing with West, saying that “everyone deserves some grace” and “he apologized and it was sincere.” In a reply to radio DJ Peter Rosenberg, who wrote on X that he was “disappointed in a lot of people” after West released a song called “Heil Hitler” a year ago, Cudi wrote, “I understand ur frustration Peter, I fucks w u, but I dont really care if ur disappointed in me. That man is my brother. U dont have a relationship w him like I do. Damn near 2 decades of art and friendship. U not family. So I get it. Ive been around Ye, and I can honestly say talking to him now is how it use to be when I first signed to him, but even better. He was dealing w mental health struggles for years and now hes good. Everyone deserves some grace when they family. I was the hardest on him out of anybody. I held him accountable. He apologized and it was sincere. But like I said, u not family so I get it.” In addition to Cudi, West’s Friday concert also featured Lupe Fiasco, Travis Scott, Big Sean, Common, Young Thug, Rick Ross, Don Toliver, 2 Chainz and Chief Keef.